The local non-profit organization, Angel View has received an overwhelming amount of donations due to the pandemic. As people seem to be doing a bit of spring cleaning, pallets and pallets of donations are piling up at a fulfillment center in Desert Hot Springs.

NBC Palm Springs visited the location to learn more about these excessive donations and what is being done with the merchandise.

If you’ve been driving down Dillon Road, you’ve probably seen these palettes stacked about 10 feet high. They’re filled with donations of clothes, toys, appliances, and furniture from across the valley.

“Everybody was sheltering at home, so they started cleaning out their closets and so at that point in time we got inundated with donations,” said Patti Park, Executive Director of Angel View.

Angel View is a non-profit organization, the funds they get from selling the donated clothes and furniture go to fund programs that serve both children and adults with disabilities. Since the pandemic began, they’ve seen an increase in donations, the likes of which they have never experienced before. And they are simply overwhelmed.

“We’ve never ever had goods sitting outside. we’re working about 150 of the pallets that are outside each day, bringing them in here, producing them and then sending them back out to the stores,” added Park.

But Donna Snell, The Director of Resale operations with Angel view says all donations are still welcome, and nothing with go to waste.

“We absolutely don’t want our donations to slow down, we’re a donated good retailer, so we live on donations, that’s the lifeblood of our operation,” explained Snell.

And due to the pandemic, the donation process is a little bit different.

“Everybody drops at the store still, the store puts it in containers and shrink wrapped and it’s shipped out here to the clearance center,” said Park.

The donations are then put in quarantine before being put out on store floors.

“Even though the likelihood of getting something, getting COVID from a donated good is so small, we’re just taking the extra steps and making sure that we’re quarantine that merchandise for 72 hours before it goes out on the sales floor,” added Park.

Angel View has shorted store hours to allow for merchandise to be disinfected and organized. The amount of donations has started to slow this past week, but organizers say donations are always welcomed at any time of year.

For more information on Angel View programs and it’s donation locations you can visit https://www.angelview.org/.

Thrift Store Donations Pile-up